confessed the Fact and when he asked who she was I am said she the Sister of that Theagines who died fighting valiantly against thy Father in the Fields of Chaeronea the generous Prince hearing her resolute answer freely dismissed her without punishment Plutarchs Lives p. 670. VI. There was a Maid called Lucia who lived a Virgin among many others and whose exquisite beauty was sought unto with vehement sollicitation by a powerful Lord who having Command and Authority in his hands sent Messengers to seize on this innocent Lamb and whilst they were at the Gate threatning to kill her and set all on fire if this poor Creature was not delivered into their hands the Virgin came forth What is it said she you demand I beseech you tell me whether there be any thing in my Power to purchase your Lord and Masters Love Yes answered they in a flouting manner your Eyes have gained him nor can he ever have any rest till he enjoy them Well go then said she only suffer me to go to my Chamber and I will give satisfaction in this point The poor Virgin seeing her self between the Hammer and the Anvil she spake to her Eyes and said How my Eyes are you then guilty I know the reservedness and simplicity of your glances nor have I in that kind any remorse of Conscience but howsoever it be you appear to me not innocent enough since you have kindled fire in the heart of a man whose hatred I have always more esteemed than his love quench with your blood the flames you have raised Whereupon with a hand piously cruel she digged out her Eyes and sent the torn Relicks imbrued in her blood to him that sought her adding Behold what you love he seized with horrour and astonishment hastened to hide himself in a Monastery where he remained the rest of his days Causins Holy Court p. 106. VII When King Demetrius was at Athens there was a young Boy of so lovely a Countenance that he was commonly called Democles the Fair whom Demetrius sent for and courted with fair speeches large promises and great gifts and at other times he sought to terrify him with Threats and all that he might gain the abominable use of his Body but the chast Lad was proof against all these and to avoid the importunity of the King he resorted not to the publick places of exercise or to the Baths with his Companions as before but used to wash himself in private and alone Demetrius was informed of it and finding his time rushed in upon him being alone the Boy perceiving he could not now avoid the lust of this Royal Ravisher had such extream horrour at the apprehension of it that he snatched off the cover of the Caldron where the water was boyling and leaping into it soon choaked himself chusing rather to die than to outlive the violation of his Chastity Plut. Lives p. 377. VIII Cyrus had taken Captive the Wife of Tigranes Son to the King of Armenia and then asked him at what price he would redeem his Wife At the price of my life said he rather than she should live in servitude Cyrus well pleased at that answer gave liberty to his Wife her Father and the rest of the Captives and when amongst them there was great discourse of the Virtues of Cyrus some also extolling the compleat shape of his Body And said Tigranes to his Wife did he not seem to thee very beautiful Really said she I did not look upon him Vpon whom then said he Vpon him replied she that said he would redeem my Captivity at the price of his life Burtons Melan. p. 563. IX Zenophon writes of Cyrus that when Pantheae a most beautiful Lady was taken Captive by him and was now about to be brought into his presence he expresly forbid it lest he should violate his own and her chastity though but with his Eyes when Araspes one of his familiar Friends persuaded him to go to her Tent and confer with her alledging That she was of incomparable excellency and a Lady worthy of a Kings Eye Vpon that account replied he there is the greater reason that I should forbear for should I now make her a visit while I am at leisure she may peradventure so order the matter as to occasion my return to her when I have very much business Lipsius Mon. p. 369. X. Acciolin a Tyrant of Padua in Italy in 1253. surprized by Treason a little Neighbour City called Bassian at which surprizal Blanch Rubea was taken with her Sword in her hand her Husband having been slain fighting valiantly she was disarmed and dragged by violence before the Tyrant who extreamly taken with her beauty laboured both by promises and threatnings to corrupt her chast mind but finding the fortress not to be overcome this way he resolved to carry it by plain force but Blanche made shift by some pretence to rid her self out of his hands and recovering a Window threw her self from thence headlong to the ground where she lay weltring in her own blood she was taken up half dead carried to a Bed and carefully looked after when some days were passed over and she was perfectly recovered she was again brought before Acciolin where she still continued in her chast resolution but the shameless Villain caused her to be bound and held so fast by certain Grooms the furtherers of his Debaucheries that notwithstanding all the resistance she could possibly make he defiled the Body of this excellent Lady a mortal grief seized upon her for this execrable outrage yet having dissembled it some few days she gained leave of her Friends to see the body of her Husband being then all putrified at her desire the Tomb-stone was lifted up and Blanche discovering the body suddenly fell down upon it drawing after her the stay that held up the stone by the fall whereof her head was so bruised and crushed that death soon followed and she was laid in the same Tomb with her beloved Husband Camer Medit. p. 224. XI Under this head may be likewise comprehended that Modesty and Shamesacedness that is in the nature of some Men and Women which is generally an argument of a Soul ingenuously and virtuously inclined as we may collect from the following Examples and we may also pitty those whose Fate had been kinder if their Faces had not been altogether so tender Maximilian the first Emperor of Germany forbid expresly that his naked body should be seen after he was dead he was the Modestest of all Mortals none of his Servants ever saw him obey the necessities of nature nor but few Physicians his Urine Camer Medit. p. 160. XII The Milesian Virgins were in time past taken with a strange distemper of which the cause could not then be found out for all of them had a desire to die and a furious longing to strangle themselves many finished their days this way in private neither the Tears nor Prayers of their Parents nor the
up in his Gown and Shoes as he was and laying his Body by that of his Wives burnt them both together the Sepulcher of these Two is yet to be seen at Tarentum and is called The Tomb of the Two Lovers Valer Max. lib. 4. XVI And though the Female be the weaker Sex yet such has been the fidelity and incredible strength of affection in some that they have oft-times performed as great things as the most generous Men they have despised death in the most dreadful shapes and all sorts of difficulties by an invincible Love to their Hushands in the greatest extremity Of which Histories are not silent for we râ—ad that Eumenes burying the dead that had fallen in the Battel of Gabine against Antigonus amongst others there was found the Body of Ceteas the Captain of those Troops that had come out of India this man had two Wives who accompanied him in the Wars one which he had newly married and an other whom he had married some years before but both of them bore an intire love to him for whereas the Laws of India require that one Wife shall be burnt with her dead Husband both these offered themselves to death and strove with that ambition as if it had been some glorious prize they sought after before such Captains as were appointed their Judges the younger Wife pleaded That the other was with Child and that therefore she could not have the benefit of that Law The elder alledged That whereas she was before the other in years it was also fit that she should be before her in Honour since it was customary in other things that the Elder should have place The Judges when they understood by Midwives that the Elder was with Child passed Judgment that the younger should be burnt which done she that had lost the cause departed rending her Diadem and tearing her Hair as if some grievous calamity had befallen her the other full of Joy at her Victory went to the Funeral Fire magnificently drest up by her Friends and led along by her Kindred as if to her Wedding they all the way singing Hymns in her Praises When she drew near the fire taking off her Ornaments she delivered them to her Friends and Servants as tokens of Remembrance they were a multitude of Rings with variety of precious Stones Chains and Stars of Gold c. This done she was by her Brother placed upon the combustible matter by the side of her Husband and after the Army had thrice compassed the Funeral Pile fire was put to it and she without a word of complaint finished her life in thell ames Diod Siculus lib. 9. XVII Arria the Wife of Cecinna Paetus understanding that her Husband was condemned to die and that he was permitted to chuse what manner of death liked him best she went to him and having exhorted him to depart this life couragiously and bidding him farewel gave her self a stab into the Breast with a Knife she had hid for that purpose under her Cloaths then drawing the Knife out of the wound and reaching it to Paetus she said The wound I have made Paetus smarts not but that only which thou art about to give thy self Camer Spare hours Whereupon Martial hath an Epigram to this purpose When Arria to her Husband gave the Knife Which made the wound whereby she lost her life This wound dear Paetus grieves me not quoth she But that which thou must give thyself grieves me XVIII The Prince of the Province of Fingo in the Kingdom of Japan in the East-Indies hearing that a Gentleman of the Country had a very beautiful Woman to his Wife got him dispatched and having sent for the Widow some days after her Husbands death acquainted her with his desires she told him she had much reason to think her self happy in being honoured with the Friendship of so great a Prince yet she was resolved to bite off her Tongue and murder her self if he offered her any violence but if he would grant her the favour to spend one month in bewailing her Husband and then give her liberty to make an entertainment for the Relations of the Deceased to take her leave of them he should find how much she was his Servant and how far she would comply with his affections it was easily granted a very great Dinner was provided whither came all the Kindred of the deceased the Gentlewoman perceiving the Prince began to be warm in his Wine in hopes of enjoying her promise she desired liberty to withdraw into an adjoyning Gallery to take the Air but as soon as she was come into it she cast her self headlong down in the presence of the Prince and all her dead Husbands relations and so put an end to her life Mandelsloes Travels XIX In the Reign of the Emperor Vespasian there was a Rebellion in France the chief Leader of which was Julius Sabinus they being reduced the Captain was sought after to be punished but he had hid himself in a Vault or Cave which was the Monument of his Grand-father he caused a report to be spread of his death as if he had voluntarily poysoned himself and the better to persuade men of the truth of it he caused his House to be set on fire as if his body had therein been burnt he had a Wife whose name was Eponina she knew nothing of his safety but bewailed his death would not be comforted there were only two of his freed men who were privy to it they pitying their Lady who was determined to die and in order thereunto had abstained from all manner of meat for three days together thereupon they declared her purpose to her Husband and besought him to save her that loved him so well it was granted and she was told that her Sabinus lived she came to him where they lived with secrecy and undiscovered for the space of nine years together she conceived and brought forth Children in that solitary Mansion at last the place of their abode came to be known they were taken and brought to Rome where Vespasian commanded they should be stain Eponina producing and shewing her Children Behold O Caesar said she these I have brought forth and brought up in a Monument that thou mightest have more suppliants for our Lives O cruel Vespasian that could not be moved with such words as these well they were both led to death and Eponina joyfully died with her Husband who had been before buried with him for so many years together Lipsius Monitor lib. 2. XX. Portia the Daughter of Cato and Wise of Marcus Brutus when she conjectured by the fleepless and disturbed nights of her Husband that he had conceived some great thing in his mind and concealed it from her in suspition of her weakness she to give her Husband an instance of her Constancy and Secrecy made her self a deep wound in her Thigh with a Razor upon which there followed a stream of blood weakness and a Feaver When Brutus
angrily said First let me know before I suffer myself to be imbraced by you whether I am come to a Son or an Enemy and whether I am a Captive or a Mother in your Camp Much more she added after this manner with tears in her Eyes he moved with the tears of his Mother Wife and Children imbracing his Mother You have conquered saith he and my Country hath overcome my just anger being prevailed upon by the intreaties of her in whose Womb I was conceived And so he freed the Roman Fields and the Romans themselves from the sight and fear of those Enemies he had led against them Plutarchs Lives p. 230. XXXII There happened in Italy sath Causin as it often happens a great irruption of Mount Aetna nowcalled Mount Gibel it murmurs burns belches up flames and throws out its fiery Entrails making all the world to fly from it it happened then that in this violent and horrible breach of flames every one flying and carrying away what they had most precious with them Two Sons the one called Anapias the other Amphinomus careful of the wealth and goods of their Houses reflected on their Father and Mother both very old who could not save themselves from the Fire by flight and where shall we said they find a more precious Treasure than those who begat us The one took up his Father on his Shoulders the other his Mother and so made passage through the flames it is an admirable thing saith my Author that Almighty God in consideration of this Piety though Pagans did a miracle for the Monuments of all Antiquity witness that the devouring flames stayed at this spectacle and the fire wasting and broiling all about them the way only through which these two Sons passed was tapestried with fresh verdure and greenness and called afterward by Posterity The Field of the Pious in memory of this Accident Causins Holy Court Tom 1. XXXIII There were three Brothers whoupon the death of the King their Father fell out amongst themselves about the Succession in the Kingdom at last they agreed to stand to the judgment and determination of a Neighbour King to whom they fully referred the matter he therefore commanded the dead body of the Father to be fetcht out of his Monument and ordered that each of them should shoot an Arrow at his heart and he that hit it or came the nearest to it should succeed the Elder shot first and his Arrow past through the Throat of his Father the second Brother shot his Father into the Breast but yet missed the heart the youngest detesting this wickedness I had rather said he yield all to my Brothers and utterly resign up all my pretences to the Kingdom than to treat the body of my Father with this Contumely this saying of his considered the King passed Sentence That he alone was worthy of the Kingdom as having given evidence how much he excelled his Brothers in Virtue by the Piety he had shewed to the dead body of his Father Leon. Theat p. 278. XXXIV A Roman Praetor or Judge had sentenced to death a Woman of good birth for a Capital Crime and had delivered her over to the Triumvir to be killed in Prison the Jaylor that received her moved with compassion did not presently strangle her but permitted her Daughter to come often to her being first diligently searched lest she should convey in any sustenance to her the Jaylor expecting that she should die of Famine when therefore divers days had passed wondring within himself what it might be that might occasion her to live so long he one day set himself to observe her Daughter with greater curiosity and then discovered how with the milk in her Breasts she allayed the Famine of her Mother the news of this strange spectacle of the Daughter suckling her Mother was by him carried to the Triumvir and from him to the Praetor who brought the cause to the Judgment of the Consul who pardoned the Woman as to the Sentence of death passed upon her and to preserve the memory of that act where her Prison stood they caused an Altar to be erected to Piety Plinys Nat. Hist XXXV When the City of Troy was taken the Greeks did as became gallant men for pitying the misfortune of their Captives they caused it to be proclaimed that every free Citizen had liberty to take along with him any one thing that he desired Aeneas therefore neglecting all other things carried out with him his Houshold Gods the Greeks delighted with the Piety of the man gave him a further permission to carry out with him any other thing from his House whereupon he took upon his shoulders his Father who was grown old and decrepit and carried him forth the Grecians were extreamly affected with this fight and deed of his and thereupon gave him all that was his own confessing that nature itself would not suffer them to be enemies but Friends to such as preserved so great Piety toward Heaven and so great a Reverence to their Parents Aelian Var. Hist XXXVI Otho the second Emperor of Germany had a Son named Luitolphus a valiant and haughty young man who taking offence at his Fathers second Marriage rebelled against him being assisted by many considerable Persons hereupon Otho raised a great Army to suppress them but Luitolphus not finding himself able to encounter his Father in the Field betook himself to the City of Mentz where his Father besieged him for the space of threescore days and severely battered the City which yet was as valiantly defended against him but at last the Besieged made a motion for Peace whereupon a Truce was granted during which Luitolphus and his Partizan found an opportunity in the night to leave Mentz and betake himself to Ratisbone the Emperor without one days delay followed them to Ratisbone which was better fortified and provided than Mentz and so the Siege was more difficult and doubtful and in the Assaults and Sallies many brave men perished on each side yet soon after Luitolphus sued to his Father for Peace and Pardon which the Emperor at length by the mediation of some Prelates limited to a certain time wherein his Sons faults and offences should be examined and a Treaty should be held to conclude all matters upon which Luitolphus surrendred the City and absented himself from his Fathers presence till he saw the issue but before the time prefixed was expired the Emperor being hunting Luitolphus having been convinced and really sensible of his Fault without any security from his Father came before him in the Fields bare-headed and bare-footed and kneeling at his Fathers feet wept the Father being amazed at this strange and unexpected rencounter stood still and the Son at last recovering his Spirits intreated him to have compassion on him acknowledging his faults and offences to have been very great and rather deserving a thousand deaths than any pardon but being heartily sorry for the same he like the Prodigal Son presented himself
Augustus had taken Adiatoriges a Prince of Cappadocia together with his Wife and Children in War and had led them to Rome in Triumph he gave order that the Father the elder of the Brothers should be slain The designed Ministers of this Execution were come to the place of restraint to this unfortunate Family and there inquiring which of the Brethren was the eldest there arose a vehement and earnest contention between the two young Princes each of them affirming himself to be the Elder that by his death he might preserve the life of the other when they had long continued in this pious Emulation the Mother at last not without difficulty persuaded her Son Dyetentus that he would permit his younger Brother to die in his stead as hoping that by him she might be more probably maintained Augustus was at length certified of this great example of Brotherly love and not only lamented that act of his severity but gave an honourable support to the Mother and her surviving Son Heywoods Hist Women XLIII Heliodorus the Brittain had afterward the Sirname of Pius upon this occasion the People provoked with the Cruelty and Avarice of Archigallus had deposed him and raised Heliodorus to the Throne of his Brother one time when the King went on hunting he accidentally met with his Brother Archigallus in a Wood whose altered visage and ragged cloths gave sufficient evidence of his afflicted condition as soon as the King knew him though he was not ignorant how he had sought his Restoration both by force and fraud yet he lovingly imbraced him and caused him privately to be conveyed into the City The King pretended he was sick and giving forth that he would dispose of the Affairs of the Realm by his last Will and Testament he called his Nobles together he then signified that he would confer in private with each of them singly and as every man entered into his Chamber he caused him to be laid hold on threatning him with death if he would not consent to the sparing of his Brother and that he should resign the Throne and Kingdom to him having by this means gained an universal assent he then opened the business in the presence of them altogether so that Archigallus was restored to the Kingdom and he dying in few years Heliodorus succeeded him with equal Justice and Glory Fulgosus Examples p. 634. XLIV There was a Soldier in the Camp of Pompeius who in the War with Sertorius perceiving a Soldier on the other side to press hard upon him he sought with him hand to hand and having slain him he went about to strip him of his Arms which when he had done he found it was his Brother who had fallen under him whereupon having a long time curst his unhappy Fate he carried his dead Brother into the Camp and having covered the Body with a precious Garment he laid the Corps upon the Funeral Pile and put fire to it which done he immediately drew the same Sword wherewith he had slain his Brother and thrust it into his own Breast and so falling prostrate upon the dead Body of his Brother they were both burned together Valerius Maximus p. 146. XLV There was a report though a false one that Eumenes King of Asia was slain by the fraud of Perseus upon the news whereof his Brother Attalus seized upon the Crown and married the Wife of his Brother but being informed of Eumenes his return he went forth to meet him not without apprehensions of fear in regard of what he had done in his absence Eumenes made no shew of his displeasure only whispered him in the Ear That before he married another Mans Wife he should besure her Husband was dead This was all and not long after dying though by his Wife he had a Son of his own yet he left the Kingdom to his Brother together with the Queen his Wife Attalus on the other side that he might not be surpassed in Brotherly love though he had many Children by his own Wife yet he educated that Son she had by Eumenes to the hope of the Kingdom and when he came of sufficient Age freely resigned up all to him and lived a private life many years after Burtons Melancholy p. 564. XLVI Darius King of Persia being extreamly provoked by Crimes of an extraordinary nature had pronounced Sentence of death upon Ithaphernes his Children and the whole Family of them at once the Wife of Ithaphernes went to the Kings Pallace and there all in tears was so loud in her mournful Lamentations that her cries coming to the Kings Ear moved him in such manner to compassion that the King sent her word That with her own he gave her the life of any single Person whom she would make choice of among the condemned the Woman begged the life of her Brother Darius wondred that she should rather ask his life than that of her Husband or any of her Children and therefore asked her the reason who replied That since her Father was dead she could never hope for a Brother more if she should lose this but that her self being but young as yet might hope for another Husband and other Children Darius was moved with this answer and being inclined to Brotherly love as well as prudence he gave her also the life of her eldest Son Heywoods Hist Women XLVII Tiberius being at Ticinum and hearing that his Brother Drusus lay sick in Germany he immediately put himself on an hasty Journey to give him a visit he passed the Alps and the Rhine and changing his Horse night and day he travelled outright two hundred miles with only one Person in his Company as his Guide Drusus though at that time labouring for life being informed of his coming commanded his Legions with their Ensigns to march out and meet him and to salute him by the Title of Imperator or Emperor he ordered a Praetorial Tent to be erected for him on the right hand of his own and gave him the Confular and Imperial name at the same time yielding this honour to his Brother and his Body to death Valerius Maximus p. 146. XLVIII Great was the love of Timolaeon the Corinthian to his Brother for when in a Battel with the Argives he saw his Brother fall down dead with the wounds he had received he leaped over the dead body of his Brother and with his Shield he protected the body as it lay and though in this enterprize he was sore wounded himself yet would he not retreat into any place of safety till such time as he had seen the dead body of his Brother carried off from the Field Fulgosus lib. 5. XLIX Neither has the extraordinary Love of Servants toward their Masters wanted great Examples some of whom have discovered eminent Fidelity and Virtue so that Fortune may seem to have treated them injuriously not to allot them as great advantages as their Masters they lived under for we read that the Servant of Vrbinius Panopion knowing
himself yet he rated the Bassa with sharp language What saies he dost thou think it handsome to complain thus grievously of my Son Knowest thou not that both thy self and this Wife of thine are my Slaves and accordingly at my dispose If therefore my Son has imbraced her and followed the inclinations of his mind he has but imbraced a Slave of mine and having my approbation he hath committed no fault at all think of this and go thy way and leave the rest to my self This he said in defence of his absolute Empire but being unsatisfied in his mind and vexed at the thing he first sends for his Son examines him touching the Fact and he having confessed it he dismissed him with outragious Language and threatnings three days after when paternal love to his Son and Justice had striven in his Breast love to Justice having gained the Superiority and Victory he commanded his Mutes to strangle his Son Mustapha with a Bowstring that by his death he might make amends to injured and violated Chastity Turkish Hist p. 411. LXXXIV King Henry the second of France commanded that an Italian Lacky should be put into Prison without telling why whereupon the Judges set him at liberty having first delivered their opinion to the King who again commanded that he should be put to death having as he said taken him faulty in a foul and heinous Crime which he would not have to be divulged yet the Judges for all this would not condemn him but set open the Prison doors to let him go forth it is true that the King caused him to be taken afterwards and thrown into the River Seine and drowned without any form of Law to avoid Tumult but the Judges would not condemn a Person where no proof was made that he was guilty Camerarius Medit. p. 472. LXXXV Otho the first Emperor of Germany being upon a Military expedition a Woman threw her self at his feet beseeching a just revenge according to the Laws upon a Person who had committed a Rape upon her the Emperor being in hast referred the hearing of the cause till his return But who then replied the Woman shall recall unto your Majesties mind the horrid injury that hath been done to me The Emperor looking up to a Church there by This Church saith he shall be a witness betwixt me and thee that I will do thee Justice and so dismissing her he with his retinue set forward at his return seeing the Church he called to mind the Complaint and caused the Woman to be summoned before him who at her appearance thus bespake him Dread Soveraign the man of whom I heretofore complained is now my Husband I have since had a Child by him and have forgiven him the injury not so said the Emperor by the head of Otho he shall suffer for it for a collusion among your selves doth not make void the Laws And so he caused his head to be struck off Lonic Theat p. 475. LXXXVI Chabot was Admiral to King Francis the first of France a man most nobly descended of great Valour and in high favour with his Prince but as in other men the Passion of love grows cold and wears out by time so the Kings affection being changed toward the Admiral had charged him with some Offences which he had formerly committed The Admiral presuming upon the great good Services he had done the King in Piemont and in the defence of Marseilles against the Emperor gave the King other language than became him and desired nothing so much as a publick Tryal hereupon the King gave commission to the Chancellor Poyet as President and other Judges upon an information of the Kings Advocate to question the Admirals life the Chancellor being an ambitious man and of a large conscience hoping to please the King wrought so cunningly upon some of the Judges threatned others so severely and drew in the rest with fair promises that though nothing could be proved against the Admiral worthy of the Kings displeasure yet the Chancellor subscribed and got others to subscribe to the forfeiture of his Estate Offices and Liberty though not able to prevail against his Life But the King hating Falshood and though to any that should bewail the Admirals Calamity it might have been answered that he was tryed according to his own desire by the Laws of his Country and the Judges of Parliament yet I say the King made his Justice surmount his other Passions and gave back the Admiral his Honour his Offices his Estate his Liberty and caused the wicked Poyet his Chancellor to be Indicted Arraigned Degraded and Condemned Rawleighs Hist World p. 471. LXXXVII Totilas King of the Goths was complained to by a Calabrian that one of his Lifeguard had ravished his Daughter upon which the accused was immediately sent to Prison the King resolving to punish him as the Fact deserved but the Soldiers came about him desiring that their Fellow-Soldier a man of known Valour might be delivered back to them Upon which Totilas sharply reproved them What would you have said he know you not that without Justice neither any Civil nor Military Government is able to subsist do not you remember what slaughters and Calamities the Nation of the Goths underwent through the injustice of Theodahadas I am now your King and in the maintenance of Justice we have regained our ancient Fortune and Glory would you now lose all for the sake of one Villain Look to your selves ye Soldiers but for my part I proclaim it aloud being careless of what shall happen thereupon that I will not suffer it and if you are resolved to do so then first strike at me behold a Body and a Breast ready for your stroke The Soldiers were so moved at this Speech that they deserted their Client the King sent for the man from Prison condemned him to death and gave his Estate to the injured and violated Woman Lipsius Monit p. 250. LXXXVIII In the Reign of King James 1612. June 25. the Lord Sanquer a Nobleman of Scotland having upon private revenge suborned Robert Carlile to murther John Turner a Fencing Master thought by his greatness to have carried it off but the King respecting nothing so much as Justice would not suffer Nobility to be a shelter to Villany but according to the Law upon June 29. the said Lord Sanquer having been Arraigned and Condemned by the name of John Creighton Esquire was executed before Westminster-Hall Gate where he died very penitent Bakers Chronicle p. 464. LXXXIX The Chronicle of Alexandria relateth an admirable passage of Theodorick King of the Romans Juvenilis a Widow made her complaint that a Suit of hers in Court was drawn out for the space of 3 years which might have been dispatched in few days The King demanded who were her Judges she named them they were sent unto and commanded to give all the speedy expedition that was possible to this Womans Cause which they did and in two days determined it
not enduring delay caught up a Ladder and rearing it against the wall and holding his shield over his head began to mount it all which he performed with that celerity that before the Guard of the place had observed it he had gained the top the Enemy durst not approach to deal with him hand to hand but at a distance threw Javelins and Darts at him in such number that he was much oppressed by them the Macedonians endeavoured to mount upon two Ladders they had advanced but their number and weight that ascended caused them to break under them then was Alexander left destitute of any assistance but scorning to retire by the way that he came armed as he was he leaped into the midst of his Enemies and made a bold and couragious resistance on his right hand he had a Tree that grew near the wall and on the left the wall itself to keep him from being inviroroned and there he fought it with the stoutest of them many a blow he received upon his Helmet and Shield at last he had a wound under the Pap with an Arrow with the pain of which he was struck to the ground then the Indian that had given him the wound carelesly approaching too near him to strike him as he lay received Alexanders Sword into his Bowels and tumbled down by his side The King catching hold of a Bough that hung downward again recovered his standing and then began to challenge the best of them to the Fight in this posture he was found by Peucestes who by this time had got over the wall and after him a multitude of others by which means the Castle was taken and most of them put to the Sword Justin Hist lib. 12. XII Sir Robert Knowls was born but of mean Parentage in the County of Chester yet for his valiant behaviour was advanced from a common Soldier in the French Wars under King Edward the Third to be a great Commander and being sent General of an Army into France in despight of all their power he drove all the People before him like so many Sheep destroying Towns Castles and Cities in such a manner and number that long after in memory of this Act their sharp Points and Gable ends of overthrown Houses and Minsters were called Knowls his Miters after which intending to make himself as much beloved of his Country as he was feared of Forreign Nations he built the goodly fair Bridge of Rochester over the River of Medway with a Chappel and a Chancery at the East end thereof He founded also a Colledge with an Hospital adjoining thereto in the Town of Pontfract in Yorkshire He likewise built an Hospital in the City of Rome for the entertainment of English Travellers and Pilgrims which since is turned into a Seminary for our English Fugitives he died at his Mannor of Scone-Thorp in Norfolk in 1407. Clarks Mirrour p. 217. XIII In a dangerous battel against the Danes at a place called Longcarty the Scots beginning to retreat there was living hard by one Hay a man of exceeding strength and of an excellent Courage who suddenly caught up an Ox Yoak and together with his Sons flew into the Battel and so valiantly and fortunately behaved himself that what by frighting the Enemy and incouraging his Friends he reinforced the Scots who were ready to shrink and fly and obtained for them a great and glorious Victory The King with the States of the Kingdom ascribed the Victory and their own safety to his Valour and Prowess whereupon in that very place the most fruitful grounds were assigned to him and to his Heirs for ever who in testimony hereof have set over their Coat a Yoke for their Crest Camb. Britt XIV Gunhilda the Daughter of King Canutus was Married to the Emperor Henry the Third who being accused of Adultery and none sound to defend her cause at last an English Page a meer Boy and Dwarf who for the littleness of his stature was generally and jestingly sirnamed Mimecan this Champion adventured to maintain her innocency against a mighty Giantlike Combatant who in the fight at one blow cutting the sinews of his Adversaries Legs with another felled him to the ground and then with his Sword taking his Head from his Sholders he redeemed both the Empresses life and Honour Bakers Chronicle p. 17. XV. In a bloody Fight betwen Amurath the Third Emperor of the Turks and Lazarus Despot of Servia many thousands fell on both sides but in conclusion the Turks had the Victory and the Despot was slain Amurath after that great Victory with some few others of his chief Captains taking a view of the dead bodies which without number lay on heaps on the Field like Mountains a Christian Soldier sore wounded and all gore blood seeing him in a staggering manner arose as if it had been from death out of a heap of slain men and making toward him for want of strength fell down many times by the way as he came as if he had been a drunken man at length drawing nigh to him when they that guarded the Kings Person would have stayed him he was by Amurath himself commanded to come nearer supposing that he would have craved his life of him This magnanimous half dead Christian pressing nearer to him as if he would for honour sake have kist his feet suddenly stabbed him in the bottom of his Belly with a short dagger which he had under his Coat of which wound that great King and Conqueror presently died the name of this man was Miles Cobeletz who shortly after was hewn in pieces Turk Hist XVI King William the Second called Rufus being reconciled to his Brother Robert he assisted him to recover the Fort of Mount St. Michael which their Brother Henry did forcibly hold in Normandy during which Siege stragling one time alone upon the shoar he was set upon by three Horsemen who assaulted him so fiercely that they drove him from his Saddle and his Saddle from his Horse but he catching up his Saddle and withal drawing out his Sword defended himself till rescue came and being afterward blamed for being so obstinate to defend his Saddle It would have angred me said he to the very heart that the Knaves should have bragged they had won the Saddle from me Bakers Chron. p. 50. XVII George Castriot or Scanderbeg Prince of Epirus was inspired with such a Spirit of valour by God in defending his Country from the barbarous Turks that in fighting against them for very eagerness of Spirit his blood would usually burst out of his lips and he struck with such violence that he clave many of them asunder from the head to the middle and usually he cut off an Arm with Armour on at one blow and with his own hands he slew above two Thousand of them at several times he was such a mirrour of Manhood and so terrible to the Turks that nine years after his death as they passed through Lyssa where his body lay
with many and cruel blows and threatned to be beheaded to which he answered You worship such Gods as will perish like dung upon the Earth but as for me come life come death I will worship none but the God of Heaven and Earth Acts and Mon. Vol. 1. XXVI St. Origen when he was but seventeen years old his Father being carried to Prison had such a fervent mind to suffer Martyrdom with him that he would have thrust himself into the Persecutors hands had it not been for his Mother who in the night time privately stole away his Cloths and his very shirt also whereupon more for shame to be seen naked than for fear of death he was forced to stay at home yet he writ thus to his Father Pray Sir be sure you do not change your Resolution for my sake Clarks Mar. XXVII Valence the Emperor being an Arrian sent Messengers to St. Basil to persuade him to imbrace that Heresy they gave him good words and promised him great Preferment if he would do it but he answered Alas Sir these Speeches are fitter to catch little Children that look after such things than such as me who being taught and instructed by the Holy Scriptures had rather suffer a thousand deaths than that one syllable or tittle of Gods Word should be altered the Governor being in a rage threatned him with confiscation of his Goods Torments Banishment and Death Basil replied He need not fear Confiscation that had nothing to lose nor Banishment to whom Heaven only is a Country nor Torments when his Body may be dashed in pieces by one blow nor Death which is the only way to set him at liberty and I wish it would fall out so well on my side that I might lay down this Carcase of mine in the Quarrel of Jesus Christ and in the defence of his Truth The Praefect told him that he was mad I wish said he that I may be for ever thus mad Clarks Examples XXVIII The same Emperor Valence coming to the City of Edessa perceived that the Christians did keep their Assemblies in the Fields for their Churches were pulled down and demolished whereat he was so inraged that he gave the President Methodius a box on the Ear for suffering such their Meetings commanding him to take a Band of Soldiers and to scourge with Rods and knock down with Clubs as many as he should find of them this his order being proclaimed there was a Christian Woman who with a Child in her Arms ran with all speed toward the place and was got amongst the ranks of those Soldiers that were sent out against the Christians and being by them asked whither she went and what she would have she told them That she made such hast lest she and her little Infant should come too late to be partakers of the Crown of Christ amongst the rest of those that were to suffer When the Emp. heard this he was confounded desisted from his enterprize and turned all his fury against the Priests and Clergy Wanly Hist Man p. 214. XXIX St. Chrysostom stoutly rebuked the Empress Eudoxia for her Covetousness telling her That she would be called a second Jezabel and when she sent him a threatning Message Go tell her said he I fear nothing but Sin and when she confederating with his other Enemies had procured his banishment as he went out of the City he said None of these things trouble me for I said before within my self if the Queen will let her banish me the Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof if she will let her saw me asunder the Prophet Isaiah was so used if she will let her cast me into the Sea I will remember Jonah If she will let her cast me into a burning fiery Furnace or to the wild Beasts the three Children and Daniel were so dealt with If she will let her stone me or cut off my head I have St. Stephen and John the Baptist for my blessed Companions If she will let her take away all my goods and substance naked came I out of my Mothers Womb and naked shall I return thither again He was so beloved that on a time when he was like to be silenced the people cried out we had better want the shining of the Sun then the Preaching of Chrysostom Clarks Lives p. 78. XXX In the persecution of the Church under the Arrian Vandals who committed all manner of Cruelties upon the true Christians there were a great number condemned to be burnt in a Ship to which they were accompanied by a multitude of their Brethren being led like innocent Lambs to the Sacrifice and looking upon their weighty Chains and Irons wherewith they were loaded as rare Jewels and Ornaments they went with all cheerfulness and alacrity to the place of Execution even as though they had gone to a Banquet singing praises with one voice unto the Almighty as they went along the Streets saying This is our desired day more joyful to us then any Festival behold now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation when for the faith of our Lord God we suffer death that we may not lose the Garment of Faith and Glory The People likewise with one voice cried out Fear not O Servants of God neither dread the Threats of your Enemies die for Christ who died for us that he might redeem us with the price of his saving blood Amongst them was a little Boy to whom a subtle Seducer said why hastest thou my pretty Boy unto death let them go they are mad take my Counsel and thou shalt not only have life but great advancement in the Kings Court to whom the Lad answered You shall not get me from the fellowship of these Holy Men who bred me up and with whom I have lived in the fear of God and with whom I desire to die and with whom I trust I shall obtain the Glory to come and so being all put into the Ship they were burnt together Clarks Martyr XXXI Among others who were terribly tormented they tortured Women and especially Gentlewomen stark naked openly without all shame and particularly a young Lady called Dyonisia whom they saw bolder and more beautiful than the rest they first commanded her to be stripped stark naked and made ready for the Cudgels who spake stoutly to them saying I am assured of the love of God vex me how you will only my Womanhood disclose you not But they with the greater rage set her naked upon an high place for a publick spectacle then did they whip her till the streams of blood did flow all over her body whereupon she boldly said Ye Ministers of Satan that which you do for my reproach is to me an honour And beholding her only Son that was young and tender and seemed fearful of Torments checking him with a Motherly Authority she so incouraged him that he became more constant than before to whom in the midst of his terrible Torments she said Remember O my
Child that we are Baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity let us not lose the Garment of our Salvation lest it be said cast them into utter darkness where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth for that pain is to be dreaded that never endeth and that life to be desired that always lasteth The Youth was so incouraged hereby that he persevered patient in all his sufferings till in the midst of his Torments he gave up the Ghost and many by this Ladies Exhortations and Example were converted to Christianity and animated in their sufferings Not long after Cyrillus the Arrian Bishop of Carthage stirred up Hunrick the Tyrant against the Christians telling him That he could never expect to enjoy his Kingdom in peace so long as he suffered any of them to live hereupon he sent for seven eminent Christians to Carthage whom he first assaulted with flattery and large promises of Honour Riches c. if they would imbrace his Faith but these Servants of Christ rejected all his offers crying out One Lord one Faith one Baptism saying also do with our Bodies what you please torment them at your will it is better for us to suffer these momentary pains than to indure everlasting Torments Before this Hunrick sent his Commissioners to impose the following Oath upon them under the utmost penalty You shall swear that after the death of our Lord the King his Son Hilderick shall succeed him in the Kingdom whereupon some cryed out we are all Christians and hold the Apostolical and only True Faith and seeing further into the subtlety of this Oath refused it other well meaning men offered to take it whereupon they were divided asunder and committed to custody the names of both Parties and of what Cities they were being taken in writing and soon after the King sent them this Message As for you that would have taken the Oath because you contrary to the rule of the Gospel which saith swear not at all would have sworr the Kings Will is that you shall never see your Churches nor Houses more but be banished into the Wilderness and there shall till the ground But to the refusers of the Oath he said Because you desire not the Reign of our Lord the Kings Son you shall therefore be immediately sent away to the Isle of Corse there to hew Timber for the Ships Clarks Martyr XXXII In the eighth Primitive Persecution under Valerianus Sixtus Bishop of Rome with his six Deacons were accused for being Christians whereupon being brought to the place of Execution they were all beheaded St. Lawrence also another Deacon following Sixtus as he went to Execution complained that he might not suffer with him but that he was secluded as the Son from the Father to whom the Bishop answered That within three days he should follow him bidding him in the mean time to go home and if he had any Treasures to distribute them among the Poor the Judge hearing mention of Treasures supposing that Lawrence had great store in his Custody commanded him to bring the same to him Lawrence craved three days respite promising then to declare where the Treasure might be had in the mean time he caused a great number of poor Christians to be gathered together and when the day of his answer was come the Persecutor strictly charged him to make good his promise but valiant Lawrence stretching out his Arms over the poor said These are the precious Treasures of the Church these are the Treasures indeed in which Christ hath his Mansion But O what Tongue is able to express the fury and madness of the Tyrants Heart how he stamped stared raved like one out of his wits his Eyes glowed like Fire his Mouth foamed like a Boar he grindeth his Teeth like an Hell-hound and then he bellows out Kindle the fire make no spare of Wood hath this Villain deluded the Emperor Away with him whip him with Scourges jerk him with Rods buffet him with Fists brain him with Clubs what doth the Traytor jest with the Emperor Pinch him with fiery Tongs gird him with burning Plates bring out the strongest Chains and Pireforks and the grate of Iron set it on the fire bind the Rebel hand and foot and when the grate is red hot on with him rost him broyl him toss him turn him upon pain of our high displeasure do every man his Office O ye Tormentors Immediately his command was obeyed and after many cruel Tortures this meek Lamb was laid I will not say upon a Bed of fiery Iron but on a soft down Bed so mightily did God work for his Servant and so miraculously did he temper this Element of Fire that it was not a Bed of consuming pain but of nourishing rest unto Lawrence so that the Emperor and not Lawrence seemed to be tormented the one broyling in the flesh the other burning in his heart when this Triumphant Martyr had been pressed down with Fire-forks for a great while in the mighty Spirit of God he spake thus to the Tyrant This side is now roasted enough Turn up O Tyrant Great And try whether roasted or raw Thou thinkst it's better meat By the couragious Confession of this worthy and valiant Deacon a Roman Soldier was converted to the same Faith and desired to be Baptized whereupon he was called before the Judge Scourged and afterward be headed Acts and Mon. XXXIII In the Arrian Persecution in Africa there was one Saturus a Nobleman eminent for Piety whom the Tyrant much laboured to withdraw from the Christian Profession but he refusing the King told him that if he presently consented not he should forfeit his House his Lands his Goods and his Honours that his Children and Servants should be sold and his Wife should be given to his Camel-driver or one of the basest of his Slaves but when threats prevailed not he was cast into Prison and when his Lady heard her doom she went to her Husband as he was praying with her Garments rent and her hair dishevel'd her Children at her heels and a sucking Infant in her Arms and falling down at her Husbands feet she took him about the Knees saying Have compassion O my sweetest of me thy poor Wife and of these thy Children look upon them let them not be made Slaves let not me be yoaked in so base a Marriage consider that what thou art required to do thou dost it not willingly but art constrain'd thereunto and therefore it will not be laid to thy charge But this valiant Soldier of Christ answered her in the words of Job Thou speakest like a foolish Woman thou actest the Devils part If thou truly lovedst thy Husband thou wouldst never seek to draw him to sin that may separate him from Christ and expose him to the second death know assuredly that I am resolved as my Saviour Christ commands me to forsake Wife Children House Lands c. that so I may enjoy him and be his Disciple And accordingly he was
comforted not only in Spirit but also in Body for he received a certain Tast of the Holy Communion of Saints whilst a most pleasant refreshing did issue from every part of the Body to the seat and place of the Heart and from thence to all the parts again Clar. Mar. p. 94. LIII Bishop Latimer being brought before the Privy Council was there entertained with many scoffs and scorns and from thence was sent Prisoner to the Tower where God gave him such a valiant Spirit that he did not only bear the terribleness of his Imprisonment with admirable patience but he derided and laughed to scorn all the doings and threats of his Enemies Ibid. p. 528. LIV. Mr. John Philpot having lain for some time in the Bishop of Londons Cole-house the Bishop sent for him and among other questions asked him why they were so merry in Prison Singing saith he and rejoicing in your naughtiness as the Prophet speaks whereas you should rather lament and be sad Mr. Philpot answered My Lord the mirth that we make is but in singing certain Psalms as we are commanded by St. Paul to rejoice in the Lord singing together Hymns and Psalms for we are in a dark comfortless place and therefore we thus sollace our selves I trust therefore your Lordship will not be angry seeing the Apostle saith If any be of an upright heart let him sing Psalms And we to declare that we are of an upright mind to God though we are in misery yet refresh our selves with such singing After some other discourse saith he I was carried back to my Lords Cole-house where I with my six Fellow-Prisoners do rouze together in the straw as cheerfully I thank God as others do in the Beds of Down And in a Letter to a Friend he thus writes Commend me to Mr. Elsing and his Wife and thank him for providing me some ease in my Prison and tell him that though my Lords Cole-house is very black yet it is more to be desired of the Faithful than the Queens Pallace the World wonders how we can be so merry under such extream miseries but our God is Omnipotent who turns misery into felicity believe me there is no such joy in the world as the People of God have under the Cross of Christ I speak by experience and therefore believe me and fear nothing that the world can do unto you for when they imprison our Bodies they set our Souls at liberty to converse with God when they cast us down they lift us up when they kill us then do they send us to everlasting life what greater glory can there be then to be made conformable to our Head Christ and this is done by Affliction O good God what am I upon whom thou shouldst bestow so great a mercy This is the way though it be narrow which is full of the Peace of God and leadeth to eternal bliss oh how my heart leapeth for Joy that I am so near the apprehension thereof God forgive me my unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great Glory I have so much Joy that though I be in a place of darkness and mourning yet I cannot lament but both night and day am so full of Joy as I never was so merry before the Lords name be praised for ever our Enemies do fret fume and gnash their Teeth at it O pray instantly that this Joy may never be taken from us for it passeth all the delights in this world this is the peace of God that passeth all understanding this peace the more his chosen are afflicted the more they feel it and therefore cannot fail neither for fire nor water Ibid. p. 534. LV. Thus the Lyon of the Tribe of Juda puts into his Servants his own Spirit from whence proceeds their transcendent zeal and courage for the Truth from this Spirit it was that John Rabeck a French Protestant being required to pronounce Jesu Maria and to join them together in one Prayer answered That if his Tongue should but offer to pronounce those words at their bidding himself would bite it asunder with his Teeth Another Martyr said If every hair of my head were a man I would suffer death in the Opinion and Faith I am now in This Spirit was in St. Athanasius Ambrose Favel and that noble Army of Martyrs one of them told the Persecutors That they might pluck the Heart out of his Body but could never pluck the Truth out of his Heart another said That the Heavens should sooner fall than he would turn a third said Can I die but once for Christ Thus did they undervalue life and despise death through that Divine Valour wherewith they were inspired though death in itself is the King of Terrours and very dreadful to man naturally as by the following Example is demonstrated with which I shall conclude this particular LVI A Christian King in Hungary being on a time very sad his Brother a Jolly Courtier would needs know of him what ailed him O Brother said he I have been a great sinner against God and I know not how to die nor to appear before God in Judgment These said his Brother are melancholy thoughts and withal made a jest at them the King replied nothing for the present but the custom of the Country was that if the Executioner came and sounded a Trumpet before any mans door he was presently to be led to Execution the King in the dead time of the night sends the Hangman to sound his Trumpet before his Brothers door who hearing it and seeing the Messenger of Death flies pale and trembling into his Brothers presence beseeching him to tell him wherein he had offended O Brother replied the King you have never offended me and is the sight of my Executioner so dreadful and shall not I that have greatly and grievously offended God fear to be brought before the Judgment Seat of Christ Clarks Mirrour p. 138. LVII Thus far we have seen the excellent effects of Natural and Christian Magnanimity Courage and Faithfulness there is yet another sort of Fidelity which is exceeding Praise-worthy which is the Faithfulness of some men to their Engagements and the Trust reposed in them the Syrians were looked upon as men of no Faith and not fit to be trusted by any man and that besides their curiosity in keeping their Gardens they had scarce any thing in them that was commendable The Greeks also laboured under this imputation as being as false as they were Luxurious and Voluptuous It is strange that those who were so covetous after all other kinds of improvement and knowledge should in the mean time neglect that which sets a fuller value upon man than a thousand other accomplishments namely his fidelity to his Promise and Trust LVIII Ferdinand the first King of Spain left three Sons behind him Sanctius Alphonsus and Garcius amongst whom he had also divided his Kingdoms but they lived not long in mutual Peace for soon after the death of their Father Sanctius
Suits of rich Apparel fifty thousand Aspers and a yearly Pension of two thousand Duckets but short was his Joy for after he had a few daies vainly triumphed in the midst of Amuraths favours he was suddenly gone and never after seen or heard of being secretly made away as was supposed by Amurath whose noble heart could not but detest the Traytor although the Treason served well for his purpose Turk Hist p. 320. XXVIII Ladislaus Kerezin an Hungarian Traiterously delivered up Hiula a strong Place to the Turks when he looked to receive many and great Presents for this his notable piece of Service certain Witnesses were produced against him by the command of Selymus the Turkish Emperor who deposed that Ladislaus had cruelly handled certain Turks who had been Prisoners with him whereupon he was delivered to some Friends of their's to do with him as they should think good they inclosed this Traytor stark naked in a Tun or Hogshead set full of long sharp Nails within side and rolled it from the top of an high Mountain full of steepy downfalls to the very bottom where being run through every part of the Body with those sharp Nails he ended his wretched life Camerar XXIX The Venetians put to death Marinus Falienus their Duke for having Treacherously conspired against the State and whereas the Pictures of their Dukes from the first to him that now liveth are represented and drawn according to the order of their times in the great Hall of the general Council yet to the end that the Picture of Falienus a perfidious Prince might not be seen amongst other of those illustrious Dukes they caused an empty chair to be drawn and covered over with a black veil as believing that those who carried themselves disloyally to the Common wealth cannot be more severely punished than if their names be covered with perpetual silence and secret detestation Camerar Op. XXX In the French Persecution there was one Peter Serre who at first was a Popish Priest but God of his mercy revealing the truth of the Protestant Religion to him he went to Geneva and there learned the Shoemakers Trade whereby he maintained himself and having a Brother at Tholouse in France out of a singular love to his eternal happiness he went thither to instruct him but his Brothers wife being displeased thereat Treacherously betrayed him and he was apprehended and carried before the bloody Inquisitors before whom he made an excellent declaration of his faith for which he was condemned and delivered to the Judg who asked him what imployment he was of he answered That of late he had been a Shoemaker but was formerly or another Profession which he was ashamed to remember or discover it being the worst and vilest of all other sciences in the World The Judg and the auditors supposing that he had been some Pickpocket or Thief were the more importunate to know what it was but shame and sorrow so stopped his mouth that he could not declare it yet at last being overcome by their importunate clamour he told them That he had been a Popish Priest this unexpected reply so desperately incensed the Judg that he presently commanded him to be burnt Clarks Martyrol p. 45. XXXI Solyman the Magnificent Emperor of the Turks imployed a Treacherous Christian in the conquest of the Isle of Rhodes promising the Traytor to give him for his wife one of his Daughters with a very great Dowry after the Isle was taken by his assistance he demanded that which was promised him whereupon Solyman caused his Daughter to be brought in most Royal Pomp in order to marry her according to his desert the Traytor could not keep his Countenance he was so transported with Joy Thou seest said Solyman I am a man of my word but for as much as thou art a Christian and my Daughter thy wife that shall be is a Mahometan by birth and profession you cannot so live in quietness and I am loth to have a Son in Law that is not a Musselman and true believer both within and without and therefore it is not enough that thou abjure Christianity in word only as many of thy Sect usually do but thou must immediatly pluck off thy Skin which is Baptized and uncircumcised having so said he commanded some that stood by to flea alive the pretended Son in Law and that afterward they should lay him upon a Bed of salt commanding that if any Mahumetâ—n Skin came over him again in place of the Christian that then and not before his promised Spouse should be brought unto him to be married the wretched Traytor thus shamefully and cruelly flouted disappointed died in most horrible Torments Camerar Opera XXXIV In the war with the Falisci Camillus the Roman general had beseiged the Falerians but they being secure in the sortifications of their City were so regardless of the seige that they walked gowned as before up and down the streets These People after the manner of Greece sent their Children to a Common School and the Treacherous Master of them used to walk with them dayly without the walls he did this often and by degrees trained them so far onwards that he brought them unawares into the danger of the Roman Camp where they were all taken he bids them lead him to Camellus he was brought into his Tent where standing in the middle I am said he the Master of these Boys having a greater respect to you than to my Relations I am come to deliver you the City in the pledges of these Children Camillus heard it and judging it to be a base action turning to his Souldiers about him War said he is a cruel thing and draws along with it a multitude of injuries and wrongs yet to good men there are certain Laws of War nor ought we so to thrist after victory as to purchase it at the price of such unworthy and impious actions a great Captain should rely upon his own virtue and not attain his ends by the Treachery of another then he commanded his Officers to strip the School Master and having his hands tyed behind him he delivered rods into the hands of his Schollars to whip and scourge the Traytor back into the City The Falerians had before perceived the Treason and there was an universal mourning and outcry within the City for so great a Calamity so that a concourse of nâ—ble Persons both men and women like so many mad creatures were running to and fro upon the walls soon after came the Children driving with lashhes their Master before them calling Camillus their Preserver and Father The Parents and the rest of the Citizens were astonished at what they beheld and having the Justice of Camillus in great admiration they called an assembly and sent Ambassadors to let him know that being subdued by his virtue they rendred up themselves and theirs freely into his hands Plutarch XXXV Rhomilda was the Wife of Prince Sigulphus her Husband being slain by Cacanus
ended his lascivious days which puts me in mind of the saying of a Wiser better King than he That there is little distance between the Prisons and the Graves of Princes this Example made a great Officer understand how K. Charles the Martyr was put to death for he discoursing with the chief English Interpreter at Constantinople not then calling to mind the Fate of Sultan Ibrahim demanded how and when K. Charles was put to death Sure said he Your King must have no Power or your People must be more Rebellious and Mutinous than other Nations of the world who durst commit an Act so horrid and vile as this see said he how our Emperor is revered and observed and how submissive and obedient half the world is to the Nod four great Monarch the Interpreter replied it would be to lious to recount to him the History occasion of this prodigious Fact but that the time it happened was some months after the death or murther of Sultan Ibrahim which was a sufficient item to the Grand Vizier to give him a perfect understanding of what he required The Poet makes Ibrahim speak thus of himself I that of Ottoman blood remain alone Call'd from a Prison to ascend a Throne My silly mind I bend to sift Delights Hating unpleasing business and Fights Till mad with wanton Loves I fall at first Slave to my own then to my Peoples Lust IV. Neither has Intemperance in Drinking been sometimes less fatal for we read that there was one at Liege in Germany who was addicted to daily drunkenness in his Cups as oft as he had emptied his pockets of his mony by playing at Cards he used to swear that he would be the death of his Wives Uncle because he refused to furnish him with more mony to play with this Uncle was a Canon a Person of great hospitality one night when he entertained a Letter carrier he was murdered by him together with a Neice a little Nephew of his All men admiring that the Canon was not present at Mattens or morning Prayer who never used to absent himself having long knocked at his doors in vain this Drunkard of ours having scarce digested his yesterdays Ale set up a Ladder to the Windows with others entred the House espying there three dead Corpse they raise the Neighbourhood with a lamentable cry amongst the whispers of whom when some said that the Drunkard was the Murtherer he was laid hold on cast into Prison and thrown upon the Rack where he saith that he doth not think that he did it that by reason of his dayly continual drunkenness he could affirm nothing of a certainty that he had sometimes a will or desire to kill the Canon but that he should never have touched his Niece or young Nephew well he was condemned and the Innocent wretch even in the presence of this execrable Letter-carrier was long wearied with exquisite Torments and at last died an unheard of death The Letter-carrier being again returned to Liege and not able to endure the hourly Tortures of a revenging God inflicted upon his Soul of his own accord presented himself before the Judges beseeching them that by a speedy death he might be freed from that Hell he felt here alive affirming that when he was awake though feldom when asleep the Image of the little Babe whom he had strangled presented itself to his Eyes shaking the furies whips at him with such flames as the Drunkard had perished in when he spake this at the Tribunal he continally fanned his face with his hands as if to discuss and abate the flames The thing being evident by the Goods taken and other discoveries he also the same year Aug. 23. was hanged till dead and then burnt at a stake Wanly Hist Man V. There was in Salisbury not long since one who in a Tavern in the midst of his carousing and healths drank also a health to the Devil saying That if the Devil would not come and pledg him he would not believe that there was either God or Devil whereupon his Companions being struck with horrour hastned our of the room presently after hearing an hideous noise and smelling a stinking savour the Vintner ran up into the Chamber and coming in he mist his Guest found the window broken the iron bar in it bowed all bloody but the man was never after heard of Cla. Mir p. 148. VI. In 1446. There was a Wedding near Zegbuick in Germany celebrated as it appears with such unheard of Intemperance and dissolute doings that there died of extream surfeiting no less than one hundred fourscore and ten Persons as well Women as Men. Stowes Annals p. 385. VII A Gentleman having been revelling abroad was returning home when it was late at night his head that was overladen with Wine proved too heavy for the rest of his body so that he fell down in the street not able to rise through the feebleness of his legs he had a Sword by his side when another coming that way hearing the voice of his Enemy at some distance suddenly snatcht out the Drunkards Sword having run it into the heart of his Adversary left it sticking in the wound in all hast conveyed himself away from the place The Watch at that time chanced to pass by who finding a man lie dead with a Sword in his body this drunken Person lying near him with his Scabbard empty they took him along with them to the Magistrate who having received such apparent Testimony against him committed him to Prison he was hanged for the Murther tho Innocent afterward the real Murtherer being to be hanged for some other matter confessed it was himself who had made use of his Sword to act his own private Revenge Wan VIII Lastly Ambition Pride has produced no less mischievous effects upon several Persons Caesar Borgia the Son of Pope Alexander was a most Ambitious man he caused his Brother to be murdered in the streets his dead body to be cast into the River Tyber then casting off his Priestly Robes Cardinals habit he took upon him the leading of his Fathers Army with exceeding Prodigality he ingaged to him many desperate Ruffians for the execution of his horrible devices having thus strengthened himself he became a terrour to all the Nobility of Rome he first drove out the honourable Family of the Columnii then by execrable Treachery poysoned or killed the chief Personages of the great Houses of the Vrsini Cajetani seizing upon their Lands Estates he strangled at once 4 Noblemen of the Camertes drove Guido Feltrius out of Vrbin took the City of Faventia from Astor Mar fredus whom heast beastly abused then strangled In his thoughts he had made himself Master of all Italy but was cast down when he least feared it being at Supper with the Pope his Father which was prepared on purpose for destroying several rich Cardinals by
which the Kings Book was stuffed neither is it any wonder if I contemn and bite an earthly King when as he feared not at all in his writings to blaspheme the King of Heaven and to prophane his Truth with virulent Lies When Luther came to die the Will which he made concerning his Wife and Child was as follows O Lord God I thank thee that thou wouldst have me live a poor and indigent Person upon Earth I have neither House nor Land nor Possessions nor Money to leave thou Lord hast given me Wife and Children them Lord I give back to thee nourish instruct and keep them O thou Father of Orphans and Judge of the Widows do to them as thou hast done to me When he was ready to die Justus Jonas and Caelius said to him O Reverend Father do you die in the constant confession of the Doctrine of Christ which you have hitherto Preached to which he answered Yea which was the last word he spake He made this verse some time before his death Pestis eram vivus moriens ero mors tua Papa I living stopt Romes breath And dead will be Romes death One saith of him that Luther a poor Fryar should be able to stand against the Pope was a great Miracle that he should prevail against the Pope was a greater and after all to die in peace was the greatest of all Clarks Mirror XXXIX Mr. Woodman a Martyr in Queen Maries Reign speaks thus of himself When I have been in Prison wearing Bolts and Shackles sometimes lying upon the bare ground sometimes sitting in the Stocks some times bound with Cords that all my Body hath been swoln and I like to have been overcome with pain sometimes forced to lie about in the Woods and Fields wandring too and fro sometimes brought before the Justices Sheriffs Lords Doctors and Bishops sometimes called Dog Devil Heretick Whoremonger Traytor Thief Deceiver c. yea and they that did eat of my Bread and should have been most my Friends by Nature have betrayed me yet for all this I praise my Lord God that hath separated me from my Mothers Womb all this that hath happened to me hath been easy light and most delightful and more joyful Treasure than ever I possessed Acts and Mon. XL. Archbishop Cranmer by the wily subtilties and large promises of the Papists was drawn to subscribe to a Recantation yet afterward by Gods great mercy he recovered again and when he was at the stake and the fire kindled about him he stretched out his right hand wherewith he had subscribed and held it so stedfastly and unmoveably in the flame saving that he once wiped his face with it that all men saw his hand burned before the fire touched his Body he also being replenished by the Holy Spirit did abide his burning with such constancy and stedfastness that always standing in the place his body moved no more than the stake to which he was bound Acts and Mon. XLI Henry Prince of Saxony when his Brother George sent to him that if he would forsake his Faith and turn Papist he would leave him his Heir but he made him this Answer Rather than I will do so and deny my Saviour Jesus Christ I and my Kate each of us with a staff in our hands will beg our bread out of his Countries Luth. Colloq p. 248. XLII Mr. James Bainham being at the stake in the midst of the burning fire his Legs and Arms being half consumed spake thus to the standers by O ye Papists behold you look for Miracles and here now you may see one for in this fire I feel no more pain than if I were in a Bed of Down and it is to me as a Bed of Roses Acts and Mon. XLIII The Earl of Morton a Religious and Prudent man who was sometimes Regent in Scotland in King James his Minority when the King had taken the Government into his own hand was falsly accused and unjustly condemned by his crafty and malicious adversaries the morning before he suffered Mr Lawson and two or three other Ministers of Edenburgh came to visit him asking him how he had rested that night To whom he answered That of a long time he had not slept more soundly now I am said he at the end of my Troubles Some nights before my Tryal I was thinking what to answer for my self and that kept me from sleep but this night I had no such thoughts When he came to the Scaffold he exhorted the People to continue in the profession of the true Religion and to maintain it to the utmost of their power intreating them to assist him in their Prayers to God then going couragiously to the block he laid down his head and cried aloud Into thy hand O Lord I commit my Spirit Lord Jesus receive my Soul Which words he repeated till his head was severed from his Shoulders A. B. Spotswood Hist Scotland p. 314. XLIV The Lord Henry Otto being condemned at Prague for the Protestant Religion at the place of Execution he said I was lately troubled but now I feel a wonderful refreshing in my heart And lifting up his hands to Heaven he added I give thee thanks O most merciful Saviour who hast been pleased to fill me with so much comfort O now I fear death no longer I shall die with Joy About the same time two Dutchmen were taken at Prague and accused by some Monks of Lutheranism for which they were condemned to be burnt as they went to the place of Execution such gracious words proceeded out of their mouths as drew Tears from the Spectators Eyes when they came to the stake they exceedingly incouraged each other one of them saying Since our Lord Christ hath suffered such grievous things for us let us chearfully suffer for him and rejoice that we have found so much favour with him that we are accounted worthy to die for the Word of God The other said In the day of my Marriage I found not so much inward Joy as I now do When the fire was put to them they said with a loud voice Lord Jesus thou in thy sufferings didst pray for thine Enemies therefore we also do the like Clarks Martyrol p. 177. XLV In the year 1555. there was one Algerius a Student of Padua in Italy a young man of excellent Learning who having attained to the knowledge of the Truth ceased not by instruction and example to teach others for which he was accused of Heresy to the Pope by whose command he was cast into Prison at Venice where he lay long and during that time he wrote an excellent Letter to the afflicted Protestants wherein among many other divine expressions he thus writeth I cannot but impart unto you some portion of my Delectations and Joys which I feel and find I have found Honey in the intrails of a Lyon who will believe that in this dark Dungeon I should find a Paradise of Pleasure For in the place of sorrow and death
dwells Tranquillity and hope of life in an infernal Cave I have joy of Soul where others weep I rejoice where others tremble there I find strength and boldness all these things the sweet hand of the Almighty doth minister unto me behold he that was once far from me whom I could scarce feel before I now see apparently whom I once saw afar off I behold now near at hand whom once I hungred for he now approaches and reaches his hand to me He doth comfort me and fills me with gladness he drives away all sorrow strengthens incourages heals refreshes and advances me O how good is the Lord who suffers not his Servants to be tempted above their strength O how easy and sweet is this yoak Learn therefore how amiable and merciful the Lord is who visiteth his Servants in temptation and disdains not to keep them company in such vile and stinking Dungeons And in conclusion he subscribes his Letter From the delectable Orchard of the Leonine Prison Clarks Martyr p. 270. XLVI Henry Voes and John Esch who had been sometimes Augustine Fryers being converted they were condemned for the Protestant Religion for which they gave thanks to God their Heavenly Father who of his great goodness had delivered them from the false and abominable Religion making them Priests to himself and receiving them to himself as a Sacrifice of a sweet savour they went joyfully to the place of execution protesting that they died for the glory of God and the Doctrine of the Gospel as true Christians and that it was the day which they had long desired they joyfully imbraced the stake and endured patiently the Torments of the fire singing Psalms and rehearsing the Creed in Testimony of their Faith when the fire was kindled at their Feet one of them said Methinks you do strew Roses under my feet Clarks Martyr p. 279. XLVII Peter Spengler a pious and learned Minister in Germany being condemned to death as he was going to Execution said I shall be an acceptable Sacrifice to my Saviour Jesus Christ who hath given me a quiet conscience as knowing my self innocent from the Crimes objected against me as for my death it is all one to me whether I die thus or no for if you had let me alone I must shortly have forsaken this skin which already scarcely hangs to my Bones I know that I am a mortal and corruptible Worm I have long desired my last day and have oft prayed that I might be delivered out of this mortal body to be joined to my Saviour Jesus Christ Another Godly Martyr in that Country feeling the violence of the flames said O what a small pain is this if compared with the Glory to come One Audebert a French Protestant being condemned to be burnt when she was brought forth to Execution and had a Rope put about her she called it her Wedding Girdle wherewith she would be Married unto Christ and being to be burned upon a Saturday she said On a Saturday I was first Married and on a Saturday I shall be Married again She much rejoyced when she was put into the Dung-cart and shewed such patience constancy in the fire as made all the Spectators to wonder at it Clarks Martyr p. 320. XLVIII Mr. John Rogers the first Martyr in Queen Maries days the Lords day before his death drank to Mr. Hooper who lay in a Chamber beneath him bidding the Messenger to commend him to him and tell him That there was never little Fellow would better stick to a Man than he would to him supposing that they should be both burned together though it fell out otherwise Clarks Martyr p. 489. XLIX Mr. Lawrence Saunders whilst he was in Prison writ thus to his Wife I am merry and trust through Gods mercy I shall be merry in spight of all the Devils in Hell Riches I have none to endow you with but the Treasure of tasting how sweet Christ is to hungry Consciences whereof I do thank my Christ I feel my part this I bequeath unto you and to the rest of my beloved in Christ And again Oh what worthy thanks can be given to our gracious God for his unmeasurable mercies so powerfully poured out upon us and I most unworthy wretch cannot but bewail my great Ingratitude toward so gracious a God and so loving a Father I beseech you all as for my other sins so especially for my sins of unthankfulness to crave pardon for me in your earnest prayers to number Gods mercies in particular were to number the drops of Water in the Sea the Sands on the shore and the Stars in Heaven O my dear Wife and Friends rejoice with me I say rejoyce with Thanksgiving for this my present promotion in that I am made worthy to magnify my God not only in my life by my slow mouth and uncircumcised lips bearing witness to his Truth but also by my blood to seal the same to the glory of my God and to the confirming of his True Church I do profess to you that the comforts of my sweet Christ do drive from me the fears of death Clarks Martyr p. 509. L. When Dr. Rowland Taylor was brought before Stephen Gardiner Lord Chancellor he said to him Art thou come thou Villain How darest thou look me in the face for shame Knowest thou not who I am To whom Dr. Taylor answered with Courage How dare you for shame look any Christian man in the face seeing you have forsaken the Truth denied our Saviour Christ and his Word and done contrary to your Oath and Writing And if I should be afraid of your Lordly looks why fear you not God the Lord of us all As he was going to Hadly to be burnt when he came within two miles of it he desired to alight and when he was down he leapt and fetcht a frisk or two saying God be praised I am now almost at my home and have not above two stiles to go over and then I am even at my Fathers House Clarks Martyr p. 509. LI. Bishop Ridly in a Letter to Mr. Bradford writes thus Sir blessed be God notwithstanding our hard restraint and the evil report raised of us we are merry in God and all our care is and by Gods Grace shall be to please and serve him from whom we expect after these temporary and momentary miseries to have eternal joy and perpetual felicity with Abraham Isaac and Jacob c. The night before he suffered he said Though my breakfast will be somewhat sharp and painful yet I am sure my supper shall be more pleasant and sweet Clarks Martyr p. 521. LII Mr. Bradford said I thank God more for this Prison and dark Dungeon than for any Pardon yea than for any pleasure that ever I had for in it I find God my most sweet God alwaies He also told a friend that lay with him in the same Bed in Prison that even in the time of his Examination before Stephen Gardiner he was wonderfully